[Scan-DC] Emergency personnel advise against publishing scanner traffic

[Greg Danes]

While I can see both sides, the fact is the more they encrypt, the less the
public has know of. That may be good  for some things like TAC and
surveillance. But in the long run, in the eighties you could listen to DEA
stings in DC and nobody was the wiser. Yes phone apps and internet feeds
can be a bother to LE, but I would rather have them than not have them. I
heard RR on air force 1 talking to his neighbors in CA about having a cook
out once, that was really cool, the POTUS wanted to BBQ and some dumb shit
AF guy put it in the clear for untold number of ppl to hear. Never made
CNN. We had scruples back then I guess​.

KJ4DGE


On Thu, Apr 24, 2014 at 4:18 PM, Lee Williams <leonzo at hotmail.com> wrote:

> While I agree with you the truth of the mater as Internet feeds and
> scanner apps are warp driving law enforcement agencies to full encryption.
> Within the next 5 years the majority of law enforcement agencies the
> Washington, DC metro area will be encrypted. It is almost that way in
> Florida now.
>
>
>
>
> > From: brucebharper at gmail.com
> > Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2014 09:10:02 -0400
> > To: Scan-DC at mailman.qth.net
> > Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] Emergency personnel advise against publishing
> scanner  traffic
> >
> > On Thu, Apr 24, 2014 at 1:49 AM, Alan posted an article from Texas:
> >
> > > Emergency personnel advise against publishing scanner traffic
> >
> > As I read this, I was trying to decide if this was an op-ed piece
> > written by someone in law enforcement who is trying to hide things. It
> > is full of all the same arguments against the public being able to
> > monitor what their tax-supported police and emergency responders are
> > up to. There were lots of reasons and excuses about why listening to
> > public safety traffic is A Bad Thing. The only thing missing was a
> > call for an outright ban on scanners and smartphone scanner apps.
> > About the only valid point was that the "instant" reporting by media
> > outlets of an event without verification was a problem, but the
> > reasons to stop it don't reach the level of a monitoring ban. Whether
> > something is posted based on something heard on a scanner or from a
> > phone call to the news room requires a little journalist integrity --
> > but getting something "wrong" isn't a good reason to ban scanners and
> > listening.
> >
> > This line bothered me:
> >
> > > Police scanners provide useful information for breaking news coverage,
> but possessing the scanner is a privilege that law enforcement grants to
> the media.
> >
> > I suppose in some cases this is true where a newspaper or TV station
> > obtains a digital trunked radio from a police department so some
> > communications can be monitored, but this is a pretty narrow case.
> > Otherwise, the airways are public and possessing anything that permits
> > receiving a broadcast is a basic right (granted, there have been some
> > restrictions stuck on this, such as the blocking of cell phone
> > frequencies). It is a little scary to read that "possessing the
> > scanner is a privilege" since that implies that at some point "law
> > enforcement" can revoke it. If people start to buy into this and
> > believe that open monitoring is something they shouldn't be doing,
> > then it isn't too far a step to see attempts to limit or ban access to
> > various means to monitor broadcasts.
> >
> > Transparency, open access to open government, and a free media are
> > what keep elected and tax-supported officials honest.
> >
> > Bruce in Blacksburg
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"I seek not to know all the answers, but to understand the questions"